1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to printing apparatus and method for passbooks (bankbooks) used for financial institutions.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, there has been known a printing apparatus for passbook disclosed in JPN. PAT. APPLN. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-74557 as the foregoing apparatus. The printing apparatus prints characters on an intermediate transfer film using single-color printing ink by a thermal head, or overlaps several color printing inks to print images. Then, the printing apparatus transfers the printed characters and images to a specified position on medium such as passbook and card.
There is the case where feed speed and feed distance of the intermediate transfer film required for print and transfer are different. In this case, if print and transfer are simultaneously made independently from each other, slack occurs in the intermediate transfer film. A slack correction (absorption) mechanism 101 shown in FIG. 9 corrects (absorbs) the slack of the transfer film. The slack correction mechanism has rotatable arm 101b, tension roller 101c, receiver roller 101d, and spring material 101e. Specifically, the rotatable arm 101b is rotatable around the fulcrum roller 101a. The tension roller 101c is attached to one end of the rotatable arm 101b; on the other hand, the receiving roller 101d is attached to the other end thereof. The spring material 101e gives urging force to rotate the rotatable arm 101b to the counterclockwise direction.
The tension roller 101c is moved upwardly by the urging force of the spring material 101e to give tension to the intermediate transfer film F. By doing so, the slack occurring in the intermediate transfer film F is absorbed.
If image and character printed on the intermediate transfer film F are transferred to a specified position on the medium, the film F and the medium must be accurately positioned to the transfer position.
The intermediate transfer film F is positioned in the following manner. Specifically, a detector reads a mark recorded on the film F, and thereafter, the film F is fed by a predetermined distance, and thereby, the image and character are stopped to the transfer position. By doing so, the intermediate transfer film F and the medium are positioned so that the transfer of the image and character to the specified position on the medium is achieved.
However, when positioning the intermediate transfer film F, the feed path length of the film to the transfer position is variable depending on the place where the tension roller 101c is positioned. For this reason, the intermediate transfer film is not accurately positioned.
In order to position the intermediate transfer film, the tension roller 101c must be fixed after moved to a predetermined position to make constant the feed path length of the film to the transfer position.
Conventionally, the other end of the rotatable arm 101b is provided with cam mechanism 103 and drive mechanism for driving the cam mechanism 103. In order to position the intermediate transfer film, the cam mechanism 103 is rotated to abut against the receiver roller 101d of the rotatable arm 101b. By doing so, the tension roller 101c is moved and fixed to the predetermined position.
However, according to the prior art, the foregoing cam and drive mechanism 103 and 104 are specially required as a mechanism for fixing the tension roller 10c. For this reason, the following problems arise; more specifically, the configuration becomes complicated while the cost becomes high. Moreover, placement space is required; for this reason, the mechanism is made into a large size.